The 25th Word of Said Nursi

Introduction

I started handwriting the 25th Word of Said Nursi on the 29th of September 2020. I finished handwriting it on the 1st of December 2021. It took me fourteen months to finish both Turkish and English versions. Here I share the results.

I was the alumnus of the Gulen-affiliated high school in Central Asia. Then, I got a degree from a university in Turkey. During my stay in Turkey, I lived in the so-called ‘light houses’ of the Gulen movement. There, I started reading the works of Gulen and Nursi. I liked the works of Nursi because I thought they were logically consistent and coherent. Next, I worked as a teacher in Gulen- affiliated high schools for about ten years.

Last year, I started reading Ahmet Donmez’s series of articles about the corruption in the Hizmet movement. (1) Subsequent silence of ‘Pennsylvania oligarchy’ led me to the conclusion that corruption was and is real. That is why I decided to cut my ties with the current Hizmet movement, i.e. ‘the Cemaat.’

I was a thirteen-year-old child when I started Gulen-affiliated school. For the next twenty years of my life, I was deeply and strongly connected to the movement (or cult) in psychological, social, religious, and financial ways. That is why I needed a re-calibration and reassessment of my core values. So, I decided to re-read and re-examine core texts of the Hizmet movement: the Quran (2) and Risale-i Nur (3).

The deepest level of reading and comprehension of the text is possible through writing.

Writing allows me to experience all the nuances and details of the text that are lost and neglected during reading. So, I decided to hand copy the meaning of the Quran and some parts of Risale-i Nur, and then construct my decision about theoretical values and people of the Hizmet movement – Are they saints or terrorists, or neither of them?

Currently, I finished handwriting Turkish and English versions of the Twenty-Fifth Word, and I am at the twenty-fourth surah of the meaning of the Quran. My ‘current’ opinion is that people of the Hizmet movement don’t know, don’t read, and don’t understand their core texts: the Quran and Risale-i Nur.

Quran=Miracle?

The first claim that Nursi makes is that Quran is a miracle. Next, he supports this claim with the proof that Quran does not resemble any other book in content, style, historical footprint, function, author, audience, etc. Then, he argues that Quran is either lower than all other books or it is higher than all other books. I do agree with Nursi that the Quran does not resemble any other book because I have not yet read such a book that resembles Quran.

For me, the Quran is like the map of the night sky. Without a map, it seems that God scattered stars chaotically and aimlessly. With a map, I can see connections between stars and constellations, and I know their background story and final destination. Similarly, without the Quran, I see all social and natural phenomena like chaotic and aimless stars. With Quran, I see them as beautiful, ordered, and meaningful friends and companions. This means the Quran is not about the stars, but the Quran is about how I look at the stars and what meaning I ascribe to them. Quran is about metaphysics, not physics. Quran may use the words about physical objects, but it uses them for metaphysical purposes. Therefore, limiting the meaning of words such as ‘water, rock, rain, sky, earth, tree, star, sun, moon, etc.’ to their physical meanings are contrary to the purpose of the Quran. The purpose of the Quran is metaphysics, i.e., the World of Unseen. The Quran is a bridge from the world of seen (physics) to the world of unseen (metaphysics) because its large part is about Afterlife.

Quran=Eloquence?

The second claim that Nursi makes is that the Quran is eloquent and that such literary defects as repetition and logical gaps are the features of eloquence. I agree with Nursi on this point because, as a high school teacher, I know that repetition is one of the methods of education and training. Also, our lives mostly consist of repetition because of repeated needs. Repeating demand requires repeating supply.

Nursi highlighted the ‘fractal structure’ of the Quran by mentioning its continuous repetitions. In geometry, fractal patterns show themselves both on large and small scales. Fractals are repeating structures. The repeating structure of fractals in nature is the source of the natural beauty of trees, rivers, leaves, etc. So, the repetition of the Quran is not a blind and mechanical repetition of a robot, but it is the artful and beautiful fractal repetition of the Artist.

While reading the meaning of the Quran, I frequently feel the huge jump from one topic to another completely unrelated topic. I call these jumps "logical gaps". These gaps are not defects, but they are features. For example, there is a gap between two natural phenomena: the fall of the apple from the tree and the motion of the Moon in the sky. It is difficult to think that they are related, but it is possible. Difficult, but possible. The person who bridged that gap was Isaac Newton, and that logical bridge is called the law of universal gravitation.

This means the Quran provides gaps not to confuse me, but it provides the gaps so I can build ‘the bridge’ to fill that gap. In the same way, science textbooks provide ‘gaps’ (problems) not to confuse students, but they provide gaps so students can build their problem-solving and thinking skills. In the same way, gyms provide heavy implements such as barbells and dumbbells not to break people but to make them stronger.

So, the gaps (jumps) and examples of a gnat (2:26), cow, ant, bee, spider, etc., are there to build bridges and make connections. Unintelligible is not unintelligent. Quantum physics is unintelligible to most people, but this is not proof that quantum physics is unintelligent. Similarly, the meaning of some chapters and verses of the Quran may seem unintelligible to some people, but they are intelligible to other people. For example, the equations of Maxwell 

may say nothing to an economist, medical doctor, or doctor of law, but they mean a world to physicists. Some verses and chapters of the Quran are like formulas; they are condensed and encrypted knowledge, and it requires effort and time to understand them.

Quran does have eloquence, and this eloquence has several dimensions. One dimension is open and accessible to everyone. Other dimensions of eloquence require effort in order to transform them from unintelligible to intelligible.

Quran=Medicine?

The third claim that Nursi makes is that Quran is the solution to personal problems and medicine for societal ills. Here, most of my readers will object to me by mentioning the stoning of adulterers, cutting the hands of thieves, allowing holy wars, reciprocal killing, etc. I answer such critics with seven words: the letter of the law, the spirit of the law, precedent, principle, agrarian society, industrial society, information society.

The Quran was revealed in an agrarian society. Actually, almost all world religions were the product of agrarian societies. That is why almost all world religions experienced defeat during the transition to industrial society several centuries ago and during the transition to information society several decades ago. The Quran was revealed in an agrarian society, but not for an agrarian society only. The Quran has principles that are valid for the information society.

For example, you see the stoning of adulterers as a precedent of a barbarous and cruel punishment and violation of human rights because you limit the picture to adulterers and punishers.

However, I want to add to that picture the children of the family. Adultery of their parents traumatizes them and destines them to live in a broken family. Thus, adultery violates the rights of children to live happily and healthily. Who is going to protect the rights of children who suffer from adultery? You see the precedent of punishment, and I see the principle of protection of rights of children.

For example, you see cutting the hands of thieves as a precedent of a barbarous and cruel punishment and violation of human rights because you limit the picture to thieves and punishers. However, I want to add to that picture the victims of the theft. When there are financial schemes to rob millions of people of their savings and when the population of entire countries and continents are robbed of their future – who is going to protect the rights of victims of theft? You see the precedent of punishment, and I see the principle of protection of rights of victims of theft.

For example, you see allowing holy wars as a precedent of a vicious and unending spiral of violence and violation of human rights because you limit the picture to several warring factions.

However, I want to add to that picture the population of the countries, i.e., the common folk. The permission and right to protect yourself, your family, your land, and your rights from the unjust invasion and interference of all governments, including your own government – isn’t it the Second Amendment before the Second Amendment? You see the precedent of war, and I see the principle of protection of rights of people, by people, and for people.

For example, you see reciprocal killing as a precedent of a barbarous and cruel punishment and violation of human rights because you limit the picture to killers and punishers. However, I want to add to that picture the families of the killed and families of killers. The family of the killed person is going to live with the thought and desire of revenge. The family of the killer is going to live with the fear and expectation of revenge. These combinations of revenge and fear are going to start a new cycle of killings. For proof, read the history of humankind. Wasn’t it the revenge that started the bloodbath of the Second World War? The life of the killer is not more precious than the life of the killed person. The life of the killed person is not less sacred than the life of the killer.

Their lives are equal. This equality of lives stops the new cycles of revenge and fear, and it stops new killings. You see the precedent of punishment, and I see the principle of the right of life for a killed person, killer, and their families. Their families and grandchildren have the right to live without fear and revenge.

Am I the supporter and enforcer of the stoning of adulterers, cutting the hands of thieves, allowing holy wars, and reciprocal killing? No. These are the last chance interventions when the community exhausts all other preventive measures. Drilling the teeth by a dentist is a painful but necessary operation. Cutting the chest by the surgeon and bypassing the heart is last chance intervention. However, simple daily habits of dental hygiene and a sensible and healthy diet allow us to avoid dentists and surgeons because they are prevention. Earlier, I wrote that the formula of success of the system of justice is 95% prevention and 5% of punishment. Now, I want to change it to 99.9% of prevention and 0.1% of punishment. Life-long and continuous education of people is 99.9% of prevention. This means that 99.9% of finance and personnel must work to prevent crimes, and only 0.1% of finance and personnel must work to punish crimes.

Am I the supporter and enforcer of the stoning of adulterers, cutting the hands of thieves, allowing holy wars, and reciprocal killing? No. The stoning of adulterers, cutting the hands of thieves, allowing holy wars, and reciprocal killing were the precedents of an agrarian society that point to the protection of the rights of people. They are not desirable by themselves, and they are not the cornerstones of the justice system. They are emergency measures. We are not living in an agrarian society. We are living in an information society. Emergency measures of information society must be suited to the needs of the information society. The members of the information society must design and accept them, and they cannot use the emergency measures of the agrarian society.

The medicine becomes the poison in the hands of uninformed and ill-intentioned people.

The minimum effective dose (MED) and maximum tolerated dose (MTD) are different for different age groups. The dose of medicine for a twenty-year-old adult can be the poison for a seventy-year-old Alzheimer’s patient. Similarly, the verses of the Quran are the medicine in the hands of informed and well-intentioned people. However, the same verses of the Quran are the poison in the hands of uninformed and ill-intentioned people. For example, radioactive substances can cause cancer, but also radioactive substances can treat cancer. For example, a scalpel can be a life-saver in the hands of a surgeon, and the same scalpel can be a tool of torture in the hands of the psychopath. So, it is a personal choice of every person – to be a medicine or poison, to be a cause of cancer or treatment of cancer, to be a surgeon or psychopath. And for me, the Quran is a book that helps to make an informed choice.

Conclusion

Life is not black and white. There are other colors, and there are many shades of each color.

Also, as time passes, the objects change their color. In the changing world, I need unchanging values, and I need my North Star (although I know that North Star is changing its place very slowly).

I read and examined the Twenty-Fifth Word of Said Nursi. I found it to be factually consistent and logically coherent. I agree that it has many merits and methods to search for the meaning of life. However, its language is difficult because Nursi dictated it in the Ottoman language, which is a dead language. That is why I read both Turkish and English versions.

The principles and patterns that Nursi explained are not unique, but they are universal. I saw that principles and patterns in many other philosophies and religions because the psychological anatomy of human beings is basically the same. The psychological anatomy of human beings consists of three levels: beauty, order, and purpose. The external manifestations of these three levels are art, science, and philosophy (religion). The psychological schools of Freud, Adler, and Frankl are other proofs of this psychological anatomy. Freud, Adler, and Frankl explained the dimensions of beauty, order, and purpose as independent and isolated. However, Nursi explained them as unified and interdependent, which is his great intellectual accomplishment and contribution.

In the introduction, I wrote about my personal existential crisis. I think I have passed the first stage of it, and there are many stages ahead of me (2:155). I was the particle and participant of the Hizmet movement, and some people that claimed adherence to it became corrupted. I decided that I could not be together with such people. I am examining the core texts of the Hizmet movement, and I think that the Hizmet movement became the victim of social entropy and intellectual laziness because the theory and practice were not coherent, and people built organizational habits on precedents, not principles. Statistics, huge numbers, profit, prestige, power, success, etc., became the focal point of the Hizmet movement, so it is good that it split up.

As for my future, I want to keep the habit of writing because it allows me to delve deeply into my core values. Also, I think that writing must be an organizational habit of any group, and writing must not be limited to and monopolized by a select few, i.e., Zaman writers or intellectual elites. Everyone in the group must write and publish their opinion regularly. The membership in the group must be based on intellectual contribution, i.e., writing and publishing. One example is the membership in the Muslim community, which is dependent on financial contribution, i.e., Zakah.

Similarly, the membership in the ‘Neo-Muslim’ community must be based on intellectual contribution – Zakah of knowledge – writing and publishing.

Writing is the tool of feedback between people, and writing is the tool of the union. People unite around written core values, not around charismatic leaders. Written core values are intangible and upgradeable, and charismatic leaders are expendable and downgrade-able. One of the reasons for the defeat of the Hizmet movement was the absence of the habit of writing and publishing by everyone – it allowed corruption to grow roots and take hold.

Writing is the tool of feedback to yourself. Without writing, you are deaf, dumb, and blind to yourself. Maybe your soul was crying and screaming for help when it witnessed corruption, but you did not hear her cries and screams because you were not writing. Next time, talk to yourself through writing and hear the cries for help.

I started handwriting the 25th Word of Said Nursi on the 29th of September 2020. I finished handwriting it on the 1st of December 2021. It took me fourteen months to finish both Turkish and English versions. I am glad I did it.

-İman isteyen münafık

References:

1. Dönmez, A. Zeytinyağı-su: Mahrem-Hizmet. Ahmet Dönmez https://www.ahmetdonmez.net/zeytinyagi-su-mahrem-hizmet/ (2021).

2. Ünal, A. The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English.

3. Nursi, S. B. The Words: On the Nature and Purposes of Man, Life, and All Things. vol. 1 (2008).

2:111. … Say: “Produce your proof if you are truthful!”

25:30. And the Messenger says: “My Lord! Surely my people have made this Qur’an something worthy of no attention.”